Clarkson's final shot comes up short as Jazz lose to Mavericks

SALT LAKE CITY — Once Spencer Dinwiddie's shot bounced off the rim with 9.5 seconds left in the game, the Utah Jazz had life.

Collin Sexton grabbed the rebound and quickly pushed up the floor to see if he could find an open transition game-tying 3-pointer. He couldn't.

So with 3.1 seconds left, coach Will Hardy signaled a timeout and drew up a final play for what has been one of the most clutch teams in the league over the first two weeks of the season.

The Jazz couldn't register that same magic Wednesday night in Dallas.

Jordan Clarkson's contested fadeaway jumper from the corner fell well short and the Jazz fell to the Mavericks 103-100 at American Airlines Center. Utah dropped to 6-3 on the season.

Clarkson had 22 points and eight assists to lead Utah, Sexton finished with 19 points, and Laruri Markkanen added 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

"On those types of actions, we always have multiple looks cause you're not sure if the first one's gonna be available or not," Hardy said of the final play.

Clarkson was the first option on the play — and with the Jazz not having a timeout, it was likely Markkanen, who inbounded the ball, who was going to take the first option that was relatively open. Clarkson broke out of the screening scrum and was free to catch the ball, so Markkanen delivered.

At the top of the arc, though, a cleaner and, perhaps, easier look was developing.

The second option was Mike Conley, who was running around a Malik Beasley screen; it looked like he was going to have a straightaway shot that was open.

"Honestly, I feel like I was coming open on the back action," Conley said. "The first option was JC sprung free, but the second part was for me to come off a Malik screen and to screen his own man, and we kind of lost him. I thought we had a chance there, but we made the play we did and we trust whoever has the ball to make the shot."

In the end, Clarkson's shot didn't fall. The Jazz, though, still had a shot at the tie — on the road against a Western Conference contender with an MVP candidate operating at the height of his power. The Jazz might not have won the game, but it was another step toward proving their legitimacy in the league.

The Jazz led by as many as 15 points and made the Mavericks adjust to them. After Utah jumped out to a 12-point lead after a scintillating first quarter, Dallas adjusted its game plan. In came Dwight Powell at center, and the Mavericks went to a heavy dose of zone. That helped slow down the game and bogged up Utah's pass-happy motion offense.

"We had a lot of pockets of good play, and we had a couple stretches that just hurt us where we got a little bit tentative offensively," Hardy said. "We made our decisions on that end a little bit too late and had some costly turnovers."

Utah had seven turnovers in the second quarter, which helped the Mavericks come back and tie the game just before halftime.

"After a while, I think that we found a good set that worked (against the zone), but it was still making us play slow," Conley said. "It was making us a little bit more hesitant on when to shoot and when not. You're trying to find out where the gaps were in the zone, and I think that kind of threw us off."

That was one of the many things the Jazz can point to for why they fell short in Dallas.

There were the missed open 3-pointers down the stretch and the bunny in the post that Clarkson rolled off the rim in the closing minutes. There was Luka Doncic's 33 points and 11 assists, and Reggie Bullock's big 3-pointer with 35 seconds to go. And, of course, the missed 3-pointer at the end.

One of the biggest reasons Utah left the American Airlines Center on Wednesday with a loss was because of the minutes Doncic was off the court, though. In the 12 minutes that Doncic sat, the Jazz were outscored by 9 points; those were the minutes they let their leads slip away.

The Jazz pushed their advantage to as many as 15 points in the third quarter behind a stellar quarter from Clarkson, who had 22 points and eight assists and hit three quick 3-pointers to start the second half.

Doncic brought the Mavericks back, though. He purposely slowed the game down, drew fouls, and methodically cut the Jazz lead; that was to be expected. What wasn't was how effective Dallas was when he wasn't on the court.

Doncic checked out of the game at the start of the fourth quarter, with the Jazz holding onto a 4-point lead. He came back with the Mavericks up by 3 points. Then he made just about every right play down the stretch to hold off the Jazz.

None was bigger than when he passed out of a double team that led to an open 3-pointer from Bullock with 35 seconds left in the game.

Bullock's went in; Clarkson's didn't.

And that was the game.

"To battle and get it down to that last possession, I thought, was really indicative of our group," Hardy said. "Very proud of him for digging in when Dallas made their fourth-quarter run. But credit to Dallas, they played better than us tonight. And we'll learn from this one and on to LA."

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